A torque-based function architecture for engine control units is known from the German technical book entitled “Handbuch Verbrennungsmotoren” (handbook of combustion engines), 2nd Edition June 2002, publisher Richard van Basshuysen/Fred Schäfer, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft, Braunschweig/Wiesbaden, pp. 554 to 556. The engine control unit is implemented in order to interpret the driver's desired action as a torque request. This torque request can be changed by means of various control actions, such as regulation of the traveling speed, damping of the bonanza effect or by means of gearbox interventions for example. The torque resulting from this is simultaneously fed into two paths in the torque structure; these are the slow torque setting path, which is also referred to as injection path or slow air path, and the fast torque setting path, which is also referred to as ignition path or fast ignition path. Final control elements in the air path, such as a throttle valve for example, are controlled appropriately by way of the injection path in order to set the torque appropriately. The ignition angles, an air/fuel ratio and a cylinder shutdown are set by way of the fast torque setting path in accordance with the torque to be set. With regard to complex engine control units, the torque structure makes possible uniformly defined interfaces between the different functions of the engine control unit and thus a clear and easily understandable functional architecture within the engine control unit.